The Game of a Legendary Genius Dark Mage

1.

Of course, it wasn’t a family dinner.

Seong was still, for all intents and purposes, boarding at Lee Geon-dong’s place.

Go back a bit in time: just before dinner, when Seong stepped out of the capsule and was mulling over his conversation with Mihael—seeing Seong come out, Lee Geon-dong said,

“Oh, good work. Want to go straight to dinner?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

“Shall we eat out?”

At Lee Geon-dong’s words, Seong glanced around and, sure enough, things looked a bit sparse.

Judging by the convenience-store lunch box from earlier, there was basically nothing in the fridge.

Well, that’s a bachelor pad for you.

They could go buy ingredients and cook, but—

He had no particular desire to do that right now.

Thinking so, Seong nodded as if agreeing to Lee Geon-dong’s suggestion.

“Sounds good.”

“Mm, then somewhere nearby we could ea—”

Bzzzzzz—!

Just as Lee Geon-dong started to speak, Seong’s phone buzzed.

As Seong’s phone rang, Lee Geon-dong stopped talking, and when Seong picked up—

A familiar voice came through.

“Seong, what are you doing?”

It was a sudden call from Yu Mina, and Seong, flustered, asked back,

“I’m about to eat. Why?”

They spoke like siblings.

Yu Mina chuckled and said,

“Oh, then let’s eat together.”

“Huh? Weren’t you staying at Yu-jin nuna’s place?”

At the mention of Yu-jin’s name—

Lee Geon-dong’s ears perked up for a second, but Seong didn’t notice.

In any case, when Seong said that, his sister, Yu Mina, sounded a bit awkward.

“Yeah, but she went out for a meeting today, so it’s just me and Yu-bin. We were deciding what to eat and figured we’d call to see what you two were doing. So—want to eat together? Yu-bin said she wants to eat with you.”

“Hm?”

“Ah, unni!!! You said you wouldn’t say that!!”

Hearing An Yu-bin’s voice next to Yu Mina, Seong let out a small laugh.

He himself didn’t mind, but he didn’t know how Lee Geon-dong would react, so he turned to check—Lee Geon-dong, looking a little disappointed, nodded.

It was a call both could hear from right beside him, and seeing Lee Geon-dong give an immediate answer, Seong nodded too, like, got it.

“Okay. Where should we meet?”

“Let’s meet at the food alley nearby. It’s not far from Yu-jin’s place, right?”

“Yeah, true. Let’s meet there in thirty minutes.”

“Got it.”

“Mm.”

Everything was in the neighborhood anyway, so after he said that and hung up—

Though he’d heard most of it, maybe not the details, Lee Geon-dong asked knowingly,

“Your sister?”

“Yeah, she said let’s eat together. We decided on the food alley.”

“This place is a bit out of the way, so if we head out now, thirty minutes is about right.”

“Right. Shall we go, then?”

“Mm.”

Since they were going to meet women, Lee Geon-dong was about to tell Seong—who had just come out of the capsule—to spruce up a bit, but even in a plain white T-shirt, Seong seemed to shine, so he swallowed the words.

He suddenly felt a bit pitiful.

In any case, Lee Geon-dong changed clothes quickly as well, and they headed out together.

He still felt a touch of nausea from the hangover, but Geon-dong was a sturdy guy in his twenties.

He walked around like it was nothing.

On the way to the meeting spot—

“Come to think of it, have you been seeing Yu-bin at all?”

“With Yu-bin-nim? Not in person since the team dinner.”

“Hm, yeah?”

At Lee Geon-dong’s reaction, Seong glanced at him like, why? But Lee Geon-dong just let it slide.

It wasn’t important, and they chatted about this and that—Lee Geon-dong smirked to himself.

“I swear, he’s dense.”

Seong was so handsome he constantly drew attention and goodwill from the opposite sex around him.

No wonder he was dull to signs that someone had a crush on him.

Most women were interested in Seong.

And since he wasn’t particularly interested in dating, that only made it worse.

Watching him, Seong let out a small laugh and, finding it a little bland, asked,

“So how are things going with you and Yu-jin nuna?”

“Uh, we’re going on a date next time...... huh?”

“You’re already at the dating stage?”

“W-wait, how did you know?!”

Seong was usually pretty dense about this stuff, so Lee Geon-dong gulped in surprise.

Seong smiled at flustered Lee Geon-dong.

“C’mon, it’s obvious. So, are you two officially together?”

“Ahem, no. Not yet.”

“......?”

Dating but not dating?

It felt a little off, but—

“Well, these days people ‘talk’ first and still go on dates, or so I hear.”

“You...... also count as ‘these days,’ you know?”

“Hmm. Anyway, sure.”

Teasing him, Seong needled Lee Geon-dong a bit; Lee’s face reddened, but he couldn’t quite get the words out.

It was the first time he’d realized Seong could be this mischievous.

As they were talking about Lee Geon-dong—

Not to be outdone, Lee asked Seong,

“Then what do you think of Yu-bin?”

“Hmm, I dunno.”

Seong answered leisurely.

Lee Geon-dong trembled and said,

“You damn social butterfly!”

“Hahaha.”

Seong laughed it off calmly, but he was just as flustered inside.

He hadn’t expected him to ask about An Yu-bin like that.

He’d had plenty of encounters in-game, but in real life, aside from running into her by chance, he’d only met her twice—counting the team dinner.

Still, Seong did have a quiet fondness for An Yu-bin, so there was some evasiveness there.

Not that Lee Geon-dong noticed at all.

Even so, Seong wasn’t thinking of doing anything just because he might like her right now.

If he were serious, wouldn’t he arrange to see her separately or something?

Right now, the game came first for Seong.

“Dating can wait.”

You could argue the game could also wait, but—

This was an important phase.

His schedule was tight, too.

If there were chances later and they saw each other more often, things might be different—

But for now, that was that.

Normally, this is where Lee Geon-dong’s comment would make him a bit more conscious, but Seong didn’t particularly do so.

As they were chatting and waiting—

They heard his sister, ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) Yu Mina, and turned their heads.

They saw An Yu-bin and Yu Mina arriving.

“Wow, you’re early.”

“Yeah, walking over was faster than I thought. Hello.”

At Yu Mina’s words, Seong answered and greeted An Yu-bin.

She looked at Seong and gave a shy smile, returning the greeting.

“Hello, Seong-nim.”

“Oh, nuna, long time no see.”

“Is it really a long time? It’s only been since the team dinner.”

“Ah, is that so? Haha.”

“Hello.”

With easy charm, Lee Geon-dong greeted them, and An Yu-bin greeted him in kind.

It was a slightly unusual combination, but Seong didn’t think much of it and asked,

“So what should we eat?”

Normally they’d chat a bit before getting to that, but Seong was pretty hungry, so it couldn’t be helped.

Apparently he wasn’t the only hungry one.

Maybe because they’d been gaming and skipped lunch—

Both An Yoo-jin and Yu Mina agreed with Seong.

“Mm, since it’s dinner, something heavy might be nice?”

“Still, the same old grilled meat is a little meh......”

“Hmm, true. If we’re actually eating a meal, a pub seems off.”

“Right...... if we go, that should be for round two.”

Even as An Yu-bin subtly mentioned a possible second round, no one really took note.

During the fierce menu debate, maybe because he’d been around here a lot, Lee Geon-dong thought for a moment and said,

“Since it’s dinner, how about Indian curry—some carbs and good flavor?”

“Oh? Nice!”

“Different is good.”

“Curry sounds great.”

With all three agreeing to Lee Geon-dong’s suggestion, things went smoothly after that.

There happened to be a popular spot nearby, so Lee led the way; they arrived quickly, and under his lead, they ordered right away.

“The set number four, plus palak chicken and chicken makhani, tandoori chicken, and butter chicken. Those for the curries, and garlic naan, and a lassi each, please.”

A tidy selection and order under Lee’s direction.

Seong, Yu Mina, and An Yu-bin all nodded, impressed enough to applaud.

“Heh, Geon-dong’s always been good at this.”

“Hahaha, thank you.”

“Yeah, he’s got a great ‘good eats’ radar. Finds places well.”

Looking quite pleased at their praise, Lee smiled and explained,

“This palak chicken is a spinach curry—looks a bit odd, but it’s really good. The umami is no joke; I always order it when I go for curry.”

“I bet it’s delicious.”

“The look is a little...... yeah.”

“But I’m telling you, it’s worth it.”

With Seong and Yu Mina answering that they’d give it a try, while they were waiting for the food, Yu Mina suddenly said to Seong and Lee,

“The guild’s asking what we think about taking a summer vacation this time.”

“Summer vacation?”

She said “guild,” but it was basically Rapid—in other words, An Yu-jin’s idea.

At the out-of-the-blue suggestion, Seong tilted his head, and An Yu-bin murmured, a little bashful,

“Uh, my sister said the last team dinner was fun—and a lot of guild members have been asking when we’ll do something like that again. So she said, how about an actual vacation this time.”

Seong mulled it over for a moment.

He’d gone on summer vacation with family, sure, but he’d never gone on vacation or traveled with others, so it was something to think about.

Of course, his sister, Yu Mina, seemed unconcerned, while Lee’s eyes sparkled.

A vacation did sound fun.

The team dinner last time had felt a bit lacking, after all.

So Seong asked,

“Mm, like go somewhere with a pool and hang out?”

“I think we’d rent a pool villa outright. Either gather the guild as a whole or just a small group?”

With An Yu-bin answering with that level of detail, Seong nodded.

That would be kind of fun.

Granted, there were a lot of unusual people, so it might be tiring—

But spending time like that seemed enjoyable, so Seong nodded.

“Sounds fun. I’d like to go too.”

“Ah! Okay!”

Clenching both fists, An Yu-bin answered, and Seong smiled faintly; watching that, Yu Mina gave a curious smile and said,

“Well, a guild vacation would be fun. Noisy and lively—very nice. Then would the date be sometime this month?”

“Probably. But going just off the internet seems risky, so we should do a site check......”

At An Yu-bin’s words, Yu Mina said, sounding entertained,

“Oh, then shall we do a one-night, two-day scouting trip this week? Looks like they already have a candidate location?”

Another sudden suggestion made Seong tilt his head.

Wait, we’re doing this on the fly like that?